The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

CHAPTER 24
JAVA
The history of religion and art in the inland of
Java was determined by the continuous infiltration
of immigrants from eastern and southern
India. That some of these settlements took
place as early as the fourth century a.d. is attested
by the presence of Sanskrit inscriptions in
western Java, although no architectural or sculptural
monuments from this period survive. The
first great period of Javanese art comes with
the establishment of religious pilgrimages in
Middle Java in the seventh and eighth centuries.
The great complexes of temples on the Dieng
Plateau were not located within the precincts of
the Javanese capital, but were isolated religious
centres inhabited exclusively by priests. The
majority of these temples are dedicated to Vishnu,
and in their resemblance to Gupta, Pallava,
and Chalukya prototypes are actually more Indian
than Javanese.
A typical example of the Dieng temple is
Candi Bhima [377]. It consists of a box-like
cella with a small projecting porch. Above the
cella rises a pyramidal tower of terraces repeating
the form of the base in progressively decreasing
scale; on some of the higher levels are
projecting amalaka quoins recalling this form in
Indo-Aryan temples. Presumably the structure
was crowned with a completely stylized lotus of
the same amalaka type. The storeys of the tower
are also decorated with chaitya niches enframing
heads and busts of deities, ornaments that recall
Pallava architecture of Mamallapuram. The
individual heads are carved with a primitive
vigour and fine plastic simplification [378]. The
377. Candi Bhima, Dieng
378. Head from Candi Bhima.
V> JUs Batavia, Museum